A taste of Wales

Everyone who knows me, knows how much I love and miss my native Wales and perhaps this short clip, taken from a longer film, and featured on the website 'Americymru' will show why.

The lake in the clip is called Llyn Briane, and is part of the route of one of the Welsh Endurance Horse rides. The little round boat is called a coracle, and has been used by river fishermen in Ceredigion for centuries.

Real Life landscapes and their place in Fantasy ( Classic Romance Revival Blog Carnival)

Welcome to my entry in the Classic Romance Revival Blog Carnival. The theme is SETTINGS - SIMPLY SCENIC OR SPECIALLY SIGNIFICANT. I'm very excited to be part of this wonderful event.

If you've read my post on Monday at Classic Romance Revival, you'll know that the settings for both my novel Starquest, and the sequel Children Of The Mist were very important for both books. It was the same with my story in the Wild Rose Press's series 'Song Of The Muses'. For me, the setting is as important as the characters themselves. It's where the heroes and heroines live, breathe - and fall in love.

Although 'Dancing With Fate' begins (logically enough) in Ancient Greece, it swiftly moves on to 5th Century Wales. It's natural I suppose, that I should be so inspired by Wales, where I grew up and lived most of my life. Its mountains and lakes are beautiful and mysterious, and the country is full of its own myths and legends which add their own atmosphere to the landscape.

Much of the land is still wild and uspoiled and it was easy to picture it as it might have been sixteen hundred years ago. Why this time period? Well, I love the idea of living close to nature, without the hustle and bustle of modern living. There was another reason too - King Arthur was born around this time and some of the Arthurian legend is woven into my story. Many parts of Wales are named after him and his knights - for instance the name of the 3,000 ft mountain in Snowdonia, Cadair Idris is translated as The seat of Idris. or 'Arthur' As well as lakes and mountains, of course, Wales is full of spectacular waterfalls. A certain waterfall plays a very important part in 'Dancing With Fate'. The muses were, after all, water nymphs, and Terpsichore, the muse of dance, is no exception. In fact, she takes every opportunity to bathe in one, regardless of who might be watching!

Wales has inspired nearly everything I've written and for me, settings are vital not only to ignite the spark to write but to set the stage for my characters to act out their lives.

The festival is giving away prizes. I've contributed a PDF copy of ‘Dancing With Fate'. For all the other blogs in the carnival, and for more information about how to qualify for the prizes, see the

CRR BLOG

Thanks everyone - I hope you'll take part in the Carnival and enjoy visiting all the Blogs!

PLEASE NOTE:

This is a Classic Romance Revival GROUP event. You MUST have commented on EACH and EVERY blog in order to qualify for a prize.

Visit each of the blogs and leave your comment.

Don't forget to add your email and name so we can contact you if you're a winner!
You may comment more than once.

INTERVIEW WITH MARY RICKSEN

I am really happy to have fellow Wild Rose Press Author Mary Rose as Guest of Honor at my Blog today. Hello Mary, why don't you make yourself comfortable and tell us a little about yourself

M.R.: I was born in Burlington, Vermont, which I have always considered to be home. I’ve lived everywhere from Canada to Texas, and now I live in Florida. I love the winters here, but hate the humid, oven like summers. Married forever, my husband is like my left leg. I wouldn’t know how to live without him. Not having children we had dogs to substitute. The only bad thing about animals if they don’t live as long as we do.

I come from a mixed ethnic group. I am a quarter Italian, a quarter Polish, a quarter Irish, an eighth French Canadian and an eighth Abenaki Indian. I am a mutt.

HL laughs. I always did like mutts! (And I love the picture of Junior, your dog.) Well with such a varied heritage to draw on, it's not surprising you're a writer. What a fantastic bloodline. And what do you do for fun - when you're not writing?

I am an avid reader, and I love to garden. In Florida this is the subtropics, so growing plant is a new experience. The soil is so sandy and tomatoes just don’t have that sweet taste like they do in more Northern climates.

I would love to have a kindle, when I try to read at night, my husband freaks about the light, and those little book lights are useless. I am a night
person so reading helps to relax me. Trouble is I can’t stop.

HL: Oh, I can so relate to that! I'm a nightperson too, and I have one of those little nightlights - I wouldlove to have a Kindle myself, I wish they weren't so expensive. Right then, telll your fans - when did you start writing?

MR: I have been writing ever since I can remember. Only now, I don’t throw what I have

written away. I always wanted to accomplish something that I could be proud that I

did. Something I could leave behind since we have no children. Some day someone

will open my book and know I was here. I can hold up my head and be proud that I

wrote and published a book. How cool is that?

HL:What comes first: the plot or the characters?

MR: I do not plot. It takes too many brains. I just write and out it comes. Although in my first book the heroine, has always been there waiting to come to life. I know the story in my mind; I just have to write it. I like to hand write my stories in a notebook and then transfer it to my laptop. It works for me. I have little papers with notes on them that fall out of the notebook all the time. Usually something that popped into my head in the middle of the night and I have made a note. Or snippets of information I have come across. I am probably dating myself, but I had to be dragged into the computer world.

HL: Tell us about your latest release and what you think readers will enjoy about it

MR: My book is a sweet yet spicy story. It is the tale of a young girl who learns to love herself while falling in love with the hero. She overcomes her greatest fears and does it one hundred years in the past. It is a time travel romance, where she’s transported back from 1969 to 1869. I try to give a realistic view of the times, using the diverse ethnic groups that settled in the Lake Champlain Islands area in Vermont, to set the scenes. I try to put my readers there by describing the differences in the times. I throw one problem after another at my characters and have then learn from their problems. I write emotionally, I want to make you cry, I want to make you feel. I want you to know what it was like in a less modern time. What would you do if a mountain lion pounced on you? How would an autistic child be treated in those days? Could you handle living in 1869, without electricity, without antibiotics, without even a phone?

HL: If someone were to play one of your characters in a movie, which character and what actor would it be and why?

MR: I’d like, Hugh Jackman, for my hero, and Julia Roberts for my heroine.

Hugh because he has such an emotional range and could be the good and tender man of my book. Julia Roberts could be my heroine, because she can play an innocent who has a lot to deal with in her past. Yet she is no dummy.

HL:Well, Julia Roberts sounds like a good choice for a heroine - and we have Hugh Jackman as our 'Featured Hunk'. just for you!

So, what have you learned about writing since you were published that surprised you the most?

MR: How much you need to toughen up and learn to take rejection. That I hate to review a story because I’m afraid to hurt the author’s feelings. You have to be so diplomatic.This is another person’s baby on paper. I am always worried about that so I don’tdo it often. And that commenting on a writers blog makes then so happy.

HL: Do you listen to music when you write and if so, what kind of music – or do you find it distracts you?

MR: For me I like it quiet, music distracts me. I like the back sliding doors open to see and hear the jungle in my yard. The sound of the pool fountains and my canary singing is so gentle, that helps me

HL: Ah, yes. The sound of water does it for me too - and canaries have such a beautiful song. What is your personal definition of success?

To me happiness defines personal success. If you are happy with yourself and with

what you do, you are successful.

HL: I'm always interested in what inspires other writers. What is your favourite source of inspiration?

MR: If someone says they like my writing, it’s inspirational for me. Getting a good review can do it too.

HL: Oh yes, it's great when someone else 'gets' your book and loves it too isn't it!

Well thanks so much for being my 'guest of honour' here today, Mary, it's been great learning more about you, and your book sounds wonderful.

You can purchase it HERE

(and it will be available in print from Amazon next Friday)

and find out more about Mary on her website: www.maryricksen.com

Mary's Blog